Marcus: “This is killing me. Too much tension, too many lies, too many mind games with too many mad dog mobsters. How do you handle it with that bum ticker ?”
Cassidy: “I don’t think about and I just let her operate. When it comes to this cloak-and-dagger crap, I step back and I’m just a spear carrier. She’ll handle it.”
Marcus: “Really ? No offence, but she’s just a kid. She’ll make a mistake at some point.”
Cassidy: “I don’t think so. I feel the pressure. You feel the pressure. But her ? She doesn’t feel anything. Ever.”

Context

This character profile is part of a chronological series, and is intended to be read right after the third profile.

Said chronological series goes :

We suggest first reading the Jolene Hassan profiles, in no small part because they have the setting information. Also, there’s a continuity between FO1 and FO2.

Powers & Abilities

By that point Alessandra-Maria is a superb markswoman, a passable survivalist and bushmaster, and a solid :

General and trauma physician, pharmacologist, veterinary surgeon.

Negotiator, bullshitter and manipulator.

Locksmith (both physical and electronics).

Soldier.

Maintenance and repair technician.

Armed and unarmed melee combat expert.

Computer science expert.

She also has a robust grounding in the hard sciences.

During her months of adventuring she finished growing up. This is because the so-so nutrition in Arroyo made her growth slower than for a XXIst century Western person.

As part of her physical maturation her eyesight continue to improve. In Broken Hills it’s tested as being 20/10, and her night vision is also confirmed as being well into the top 2%.

The beauty of our weapons, part 5

Revolver

Alessa continues to pack her custom .44 magnum revolver. It is in a low-slung quick draw holster on her left thigh, with a lanyard. She will usually draw and shoot it with her left hand, while keeping her right hand on the grip of her long arm. Obviously she cannot use both at once, but this allows her to transition back to the long arm very quickly.

The magnum is used as a close quarter defense weapon. In this role Alessa will usually place her shots, a favourite being to shoot armoured opponents with a rifle or shotgun in one arm, to make them unable to operate their weapon.

It is also used to eliminate minor beasts. Though .44 magnum hollowpoint may not readily come to mind as a varmint round, it becomes sensible once you’ve seen the sort of “varmint” in the wasteland.

AK-112

The assault rifle (with dual-drum magazine) is now her main weapon, and kept on her under-the-shoulder rig. This is in no small part thanks to the boxes of 5mm ammunition Marcus pitched in when he joined – his Rockwell minigun also fires that round.

The iron sights are good enough to also use it as a semi-auto marksman’s rifle for long-distance shooting. This spares the ammunition stocks, and Alessa prefers to place her shots anyway.

Winchester City-Killer

This assault shotgun (a gift from the super-mutant miners in Broken Hills) is briefly used for tunnel-fighting against wanamingos in Redding. It’s not a common part of the Chosen One’s loadout, though.

DKS-701 sniper rifle

A 7.62mm scoped precision rifle in excellent condition. This isn’t quite a mission-specific weapon. The Chosen One prefers to engage enemies at the longest possible range and may carry her DKS just in case.

If so it’ll be in a dedicated protective backpack. So yes, she’ll be carrying at least two long arms and a handgun. Between the arsenal and the green infantry body armour there’s a bit of a Doomguy vibe here.

In Fallout 2 the rifle is called a DKS-501 and fires 5.56mm rounds. How the ammunition suddenly becomes more powerful than when fired from a scoped hunting rifle is a mystery. One hypothesis is a tribe of gremlins living in the barrel and pushing the bullet along like a bobsleigh team to make it go faster, while feeding it American food to make it heavier.

Another hypothesis, used here, is that this rifle fires a heavier calibre.

Other gear

During this era the Highwayman receives further work at a New Reno garage. Cassidy and Hassan then finish tinkering with the huge car so they can comfortably live in it. It essentially doubles as a sort of small, Spartan RV. Marcus can sleep outside the car without hindrance.

The car also gets equipped with a blower. A supercharger, if you prefer. Though it increases its speed, it is not significant enough to change the DC Heroes RPG or DC Adventure RPG stats. The supercharger was christened “Claudia” by the mechanic who installed it, because he’s a headcase.

The Chosen One starts wearing an MkII Infantry Combat Armor Suit, which looks like the one worn by Colonial Marines in the 1986 movie Aliens, but NATO green.

History

Skeeter had strongly advised making frequent stops with the Highwayman, for preventive maintenance, cleaning filters and heat management. Thus, Hassan and Cassidy stopped at the Broken Hills mining settlement, midway to the Vault 15 area.

During the trip, Alessandra-Maria also started reviewing her photographs, footage and recordings on her PIP-Boy. She had been accumulating this material ever since leaving Arroyo. She felt she now had enough knowledge to make sense of what she did not understand back then.

You always have to backtrack in old games, part 1

The most important were photos of the bunker where, months before, Smiley the trapper from Klamath had fled mutant geckos. Alessa could now recognize the engine powering the freight elevator and what it would take to repair it. She also identified the model of electronic lockpad on the elevator itself.

There was a floor beneath the bunker, potentially untouched since the War.

On Cassidy’s advice, Alessa procured some electronics during a pit stop in New Reno, which was on the way back to Klamath. Fixing the elevator and breaking into the shaft was relatively easy, and they found some sort of military shelter.

It was guarded by a war robot that nearly killed Alessa. However, her keen reflexes allowed her to roll out of the way just in time. The robot couldn’t give chase – some centuries-old systems had broken down and its mobility was very limited.

You always have to backtrack in old games, part 2

The small but unpilfered shelter held a treasure trove of infantry equipment, including :

From its size it seemed to have been some sort of military safehouse, though it had clearly been used by authorised troops in the past.

Armed with the holodisk manual, Alessandra eventually learned to adjust the armour. Still, they drove to Modoc to have the local tanner craft additional padding and other leather bits do adapt it to Hassan’s body.

You always have to backtrack in old games, part 3

While driving from New Reno to Klamath, Alessa had another eureka moment about medical equipment she had photographed in Vault 8. Since VC was so close to Modoc — assuming a car — she grilled Doctor Troy anew.

Thus, she learned even more about medicine and in particular some pre-War minor cybernetic enhancement procedures.

Then, it was time to return to Broken Hills, the halfway stop before the Vault 15 area.

(These two bits of backtracking are typical of a playthrough for a person who knows the game and which important resources are unlockable at which character skill levels. The conceit of having taken photographs and reviewing them is made up for this adaptation so the backtracking makes *some* narrative sense.)

Broken Hills

Once in Broken Hills, Alessandra-Maria worried about one of the car’s water cooling systems. She decided to stop to take it apart and inspect it. In the meanwhile Cassidy chatted with the locals, doing minor business and getting the lay of the land.

Broken Hills was a mining city, mostly digging up uranium ore. However, the air purifier within the mine had recently given up the ghost. This likely doomed the town. Cassidy saw this as an opportunity. His partner was uniquely qualified to make the repairs, whereas the locals would just get poisoned to death if they tried.

The Broken Hills general store. On the expanded version, one can see caravan guards assembling across the street.

Alessa and Cassidy quickly procured the needed spare part, and she did the painful and dangerous job without batting an eye.

The original plan had been to ask for money. However, Hassan had grown intrigued by all the super mutants who lived peacefully in town, along with ghouls and humans.

(All the reasons why the Chosen One spends time in Broken Hills, Redding and New Reno in this playthrough are entirely made up. These additions… dampen the perennial problem of “the main quest is real urgent, yet the Player Character endlessly gets involved in side quests and unrelated situations because video games”.)

(Specifically, the goal is to explain why the Chosen One doesn’t beeline from Vault City to Vault 15. Though it’s not narratively neat (meanwhile Arroyo is dying !), there’s a certain realism to it (unexpected problem pops up and forces an uncomfortable rejiggering of the priority list). That the Player Character has no empathy for Arroyo — or in general — also helps.)

Marcus, part 1

Alessandra had read Jolene Hassan‘s extensive notes about the Master and his super-mutants – and they were on her PIP-Boy. Based on Cassidy’s legwork, she soon realised that several super-mutants in town were successful augments – and particularly the sheriff/mayor, Marcus. He seemed to have been as much of a success as the Lieutenant whom Jolene Hassan had once fought.

Alessa wanted to understand how similar her own mutation was to super-mutants’. Thus, she decided to become Marcus’ friend to pump him for info. She helped fix a few issues in Broken Hills.

Alessandra-Maria concentrated on dismantling an anti-mutant underground among humans, using the fact that she looked human and could lie like a rug. Mostly, she gave them enough rope to hang themselves.

She also forced a super-mutant who had “pre-emptively struck” by killing alleged human supremacists to leave the town.

Marcus, part 2

The anti-mutant terrorists had been the ones who sabotaged the air purifier. So in Marcus’ opinion the core law enforcement issue in Broken Hills had been solved. But mostly he was growing restless, and his pro-mutant agenda made him very interested in Alessandra-Maria.

Marcus and Alessandra (in combat armour) in front of Marcus’ home. On the expanded version, one can see part of central Broken Hills. As always, the isometric view exaggerates the size of buildings.

He offered to accompany her and Cassidy, provided that they first ride to Redding . That way Marcus could ask Redding’s sheriff to keep an eye on Broken Hills. On the next day, all three drove to Redding.

Alessa also loaned Marcus the Bozar machinegun found in the safe house bunker, since his minigun would have eaten up far too much ammunition.

(Marcus doesn’t ask for going to Redding in-game. It’s one of our oh-so discreet adjustments so the story makes sense. In-game, there’s no indication of any special cooperation between Redding and Broken Hills)

Workin’ in the gold mine, goin’ down down down

The situation in Redding wasn’t good. A large percentage of miners had become Jet junkies, much like in the Den .

The political tensions in town were also coming to a head. One of the major regional factions — Vault City, New Reno or the New California Republic — would inevitably come to control Reddings’ gold mines. But the outcome of the influence struggle was still very much in doubt.

Furthermore, Sheriff Earl Marion had nearly lost his leg to a sneaky mutated gecko some days before. Alessa saw this as an opportunity – they could act as deputies to do Marion’s job while his leg healed. This would mean rewards, and help convince him to set a monthly visit by a Redding liaison to Broken Hills whilst Marcus was away.

The Chosen One and her two co-deputies swiftly handled a number of cases. This led to the Sheriff entrusting them with terminating “Frog” Norton’s mob, a well-armed bunch who had been a persistent problem for him. With these out of the way, a deal was reached with Marcus.

The trio also cleared the Great Wanamingo Mine, which had been taken over by “alien monsters”. These heavily mutated, powerful creatures indeed didn’t resemble Earth creatures much, and took heavy gunfire to kill. They were christened “wanamingos“.

Just say no

As the trio took a beer break in New Reno on their way back, Cassidy grew angry. Jet junkies had been trying to bum a few caps for their next shot. Cassidy went on a long rant about how this highly addictive narcotic was destroying the settlements, and how it was pushed by the four main New Reno syndicates.

As Alessa was indifferent to the matter, he pointed out how the Den had been ravaged by Jet, how Klamath would likely be next… and from there Arroyo. An itinerant trader like the one who had been trying to sell fake stimpacks to the Umbra Tribe was bound to push to them.

Our heroes (sort of) and the rebuilt Highwayman. On the expanded version, one can see part of central Redding, and in particular the Mayor’s casino.

Getting worked up, Cassidy claimed that the New Reno mobs should be purged from the Earth with fire.

Marcus generally agreed. He recounted a few anecdotes about scaring off Jet pushers trying to gain a foothold in Broken Hills. Cassidy reminded the Chosen One how concerned Dr. Troy in Vault City was about Jet’s addictive power.

This finally convinced her that her tribe was on borrowed time even if they survived the drought.

After hanging around New Reno for a few days, Ms. Hassan decided to make her move. It started by entering the “fighting rituals” (as she called boxing matches) to get a rep as a visiting mercenary fighter. After Marcus and Cassidy brainstormed her new identity as “Hurricane” , Alessa convinced a promoter to let a woman fight, and entered the boxing championship.

The pain-ignoring, extremely fast and aggressive “Hurricane” soon achieved a 100% win-by-knockout record, even against men outweighing her by 60 pounds. She was crowned the town’s champion prizefighter, to her complete indifference until she learned it came with a significant discount at the Cat’s Paw brothel .

The plan worked even better than hoped. Made men from the four Reno families (Mordino, Salvatore, Bishop and Wright) had attended the championship and cheered “the champ”. Most tough guys around town let her go wherever she wanted with but occasional leering comments.

She also became quite popular among Reno’s female sex workers. Many were often beaten, and seeing “Hurricane” mauling a succession of male boxers felt like sweet revenge for all their bruises.

Smooth criminals

“Hurricane” then started working for all four mob families at once, meeting them at night and in secret. At first she particularly focused on the Bishop family. The sexually voracious, lonely and terminally bored Mrs. Bishop could be, err, worked as an additional source of information.

The plan worked quite well. Alessandra could lie extensively without being detected. She further downplayed her intellect to match what the generally prejudiced mobsters expected from a dark-skinned tribal girl from the boondocks.

She also mimicked Sulik’s speech patterns, faked being superstitious and wasn’t discreet at all about her daily visits at the brothel. This both raised her popularity in town as “the champ”, and further led to underestimating her as an oversexed, two-fisted savage.

Lastly, “Hurricane” became a friend to the severely alcoholic Father Tully , who knew a lot about the power struggles in town.

Though the shaman Hakunin again visited her in a dream, Alessa convinced him to ease up on the pressure. She told him about all the jetheads she had seen in “civilised” burgs. However, Hakunin’s dream communication led her to more closely investigate Jet so she could report more progress.

You know I read it in a magazine, oh, yeah, ‘lessa and the Jet

Jet was brewed in a secret location. It was a ranch turned into an awful torture center to experiment new Jet formulations on captive tribals and other undesirables. Jet had been designed by a sociopathic teenage genius called Myron .

Between her ties with the Mordino family who ran the place, and the support of sex workers who frequently were taken to the ranch to attend Myron, Alessa located the ranch without difficulties. She soon met Myron.

The entrance of the Shark Casino mob headquarters in New Reno. On the expanded version, you can also see the New Reno gym and boxing club.

The teenager was in love with his self-image as a predatory sociopathic genius. As a result he never considered the possibility of a better, colder liar than he. He also failed to consider that a young, attractive tribal woman might know quite a lot about pharmacology. The kid was played like an accordion at a Belgian folk festival in 1975.

Alessa walked away with a robust medical strategy to block the effects of Jet and break addiction. She also obtained good intelligence about how the Jet addiction epidemic was a deliberate plan to bring Redding under control. Lastly, she could study the security at the hidden ranch.

Marcus insisted that they do something ASAP for Redding. As a result, Hassan worked with Dr. Troy in Vault City to brew up the “antidote”.

They then coordinated with the physician in Redding, a former colleague of Troy, to distribute the counter-agent without the miners realising it. This would force them to go cold turkey, with the Jet effects being 95%+ blocked.

Vicious games under different names, part 1

Meanwhile, Ms. Hassan expertly played on the mobs’ paranoia and fixation on violence. She triggered a number of bloody gang wars and general chaos in New Reno. The first to trust her was the reclusive Salvatore family.

While working with the Salvatores, Alessa learned that they had secret ties with a mysterious faction operating in full power armour , with working vertibirds and robots. These were the ones supplying the Salvatores with “lightbringers” (laser pistols) which were behind much of their power in San Reno.

Minutes after he made “Hurricane” a trusted member of the family, Alessa executed the elderly Louis Salvatore with a .44 magnum bullet to the head. Taken cold, the made men of the family were reaped by the waiting Cassidy and Marcus’ heavy automatic gunfire.

Alessa had pulled the trigger on don Salvatore first since she had been contracted by the Mordino family to do the deed. Elated, the Mordinos richly rewarded her. They were massacred in an ambush right in return, when “Hurricane” took them to the brothel to celebrate. Two bystanders were caught in the crossfire and killed.

Vicious games under different names, part 2

The Bishop family moved in to mop up. But they didn’t realize that the two-fisted primitive “Hurricane” was behind it all.

There was a bit of suspicion, but Alessa used pillow talk from Mrs. Bishop to frame less loyal Bishop associates as possible traitors. This deflected the heat away from her. Given the tension and fights in town, these people were gunned down based on mere suspicion.

The New Reno Arch, almost intact. On the expanded version, another mob casino and bits of downtown New Reno.

The Bishop family were attempting to block the weakest family, the Wrights, from filling the power vacuum. More shootouts ensued in town. Alessa left for a while to conduct a series of missions for Mr. Bishop, a fair distance to the South. Meanwhile, the Bishops and the Wrights would weaken each other.

Mr. Bishop had great political ambitions for the area. He was involved in intelligence struggles and wetwork to force Vault City, the New California Republic and other regional powers to play to his tune.

(These two sections have described a scaled up, more intricate version of the events in-game, though not by that much. The scaling up is there since the “real” settlements are much larger than what can be seen in-game. Especially in New Reno, which is described as having survived the war in fairly good shape.)

St. Valentine Day massacres in the Wasteland

At this point of the New Reno Gangs War, scores of people had died. This included civilians caught in crossfires or killed over mob ties. And there was little doubt as to what would happen to the Bishop family made men as soon as they would lower their guard around “Hurricane”.

Cassidy was sickened by the carnage, especially as he blamed himself. He realised that his rant about scourging the New Reno mobs from the Earth had been taken literally by Alessa. More importantly, he knew that she lacked the means to consider what she was doing from a moral standpoint.

The old man considered that he was responsible for the carnage in New Reno, since the Chosen One was neurologically unable to consider the ethics of it. As a result, he wanted out.

Cassidy out

Hassan could indeed not understand, but she respected his decision. The lass offered to drop Cassidy on New California Republic turf, explaining how it was the best strategy for the old man’s heart. It was a good plan, allowing Cassidy access to Vault City’s cardiac drugs without returning to this hated place.

Nevertheless, Cassidy couldn’t stand being with her. Marcus brokered a deal – Cassidy agreed to get into the car for the relatively short ride to Broken Hills. He would then live in Marcus’ house there until the next caravan to the NCR hired him as a senior guard.

Cassidy dropped his bag in Marcus’ old bedroom, Marcus talked to the caravan masters and Alessa checked the car’s oil levels. Minutes later, the antiquated Highwayman left for the New California Republic to close wetwork contracts for the soon-to-be-exterminated Bishop family.

(Like with Sulik previously, Cassidy leaving in this way is a narrative decision for this playthrough. Unlike Vic he has to survive to respect the canon. Fallout 2 NPCs *can* desert the Player Character , but not in that involved a manner.)

Description

See illustrations.

Personality

There’s some minor maturation from increased experience and knowledge. But generally speaking, her personality cannot change.

Quotes

(The ringside girl rings the bell)
(Alessa shuffles back, then crouches low to the ground, swaying slightly from side to side).
Boxer: “The fuck..?”
(Alessa starts darting to the right. As the boxer reacts she unexpectedly stops, spins on herself leftward and backhands him in the temple. She immediately leaps and lands a vicious right cross with her entire body, sending her opponent bleeding into the ropes)
Coach: “That ain’t boxin’ !”
Marcus: “Awww, c’mon. She’s wearing your stupid little gloves, she’s only punching, all blows are above the belt, she waited for your stupid little bell, she’s wearing those stupid little shorts of yours just so you could ogle her changing… don’t think I haven’t seen you… It sure all looks like boxing to me.”

(As the last Salvator guard gets cut down by heavy fire and the bar’s patrons finish running away in terror, Cassidy stares at the torn bodies and the blood everywhere)
Cassidy (hands shaking but reloading his assault shotgun by rote): “Sweet baby Jesus, I want a beer. I need a beer right now. Jesus.”
Marcus (reloading his machinegun): “No collateral damage I think… assuming this guy here was working for don Salvatore. I think he did. I’m not sure, given that he doesn’t have a head anymore. We need to move…”
(Marcus is interrupted by Alessa’s laughter then a strange gurgling noise)
Cassidy (incredulous): “What in Hell’s name…”
Alessa (getting back up after slitting the throat of a fatally wounded but still breathing Salvatore man): “Chief asshole guard wasn’t hit in the face. Thought he was, but the bullet hit him in jaw. So the cool little glasses like mirrors are not broken.” (gets up, flips her grip on her knife to free up her fingers, coquettishly puts the small round mirrorshades on, starts throwing cute “V” finger signs and grinning) “Been wanting them since saw them.”
Cassidy (shaking his head): “Jesus…”
(Alessa cleans her knife by wiping it on a corpse’s clothes)

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